“You don’t think it’s bad?” She put her boot back on and laced it loosely.
He shook his head. “I’ve seen worse. It’s not even swollen.”
He swiftly swooped her up into his arms and started down the hill. Her round, soft breasts pressed against his chest when she slid one hand behind his neck, tangling her fingers in the hair at the base of his skull. The warmth from her small fingers tingled against his head and demanded his attention. Even with the fight to leave her alone raging through his body, her touch calmed the anxiety he’d felt tearing apart his insides. He needed her. Forever.
“Thank you,” she whispered. Her breath tickled the base of his neck, and he remembered the feel of her mouth beneath his mere moments ago. He tucked that memory away as he descended the mountain with her wrapped warmly in his arms. His mother’s lesson replayed in his mind: A man who wears his emotions for all to see is but a fool in the eyes of a woman.
Chapter 8
The ear-piercing squeal of the train as it rolled to a complete stop echoed off the building and trees surrounding the cook fire. Beth limped off the trailhead, following Garrett. He’d set her on her feet when they’d drawn closer to the camp, and she worked through each step until the pain was tolerable. The feel of his warm lips against her mouth flooded her thoughts, and refused to ebb. The moment her feet hit the ground her lungs could once more hold air, but the memories remained. He liked her. At least enough to kiss her. That she did not expect to experience up here on the mountain.
She tried to force away the daze she felt as she walked into camp. A mess of disorder drew her attention to the train as men jumped from the railcar and scattered. Beth wandered to where the cook stood watching the chaos with hands on hips.
The older woman flashed a look at her before settling her eyes on the rumpus at the tracks. “Ah, good, you’re back. Glad Garrett didn’t keep you busy all day. The train came in and my goddaughter should be onboard. Would you like to meet her?”
“I would love to,” Beth lied, and faced the train as a tall blond woman emerged from a fancy caboose attached to the back of the usually dirty train.
“That’s not her.” Aunt June frowned and, with her eyes, followed the woman’s progression through the camp.
“Garrett,” the woman called when she neared, and headed in his direction. She sidled up to him and kissed him on both cheeks the way the French women from the bakery on Mullan Road did whenever they greeted people. Beth fought the need to copy Aunt June’s critical glare.
“Funny. She doesn’t sound French,” she mumbled to herself.
“She’s not.” Aunt June shook her head in disapproval.
Beth frowned when the woman looped her arm through Garrett’s elbow and stood spine straight. Who was this woman? A mere hour ago there’d been no one on earth but her and Garrett, yet now he stood next to a woman who behaved as if she were the sole reason for his existence. The woman turned to study the mill of people as if they were her loyal subjects.
Garrett flicked a glance in Beth’s direction, and then down at the ground. Guilt was evident in each clipped movement. Beth was a fool.
“I’m positively ecstatic,” the woman sang as they ambled closer to Beth and Aunt June. “I wanted desperately to see how this all works so I begged Papa. With a little persuasion”—she batted her eyes at Garrett—“he finally let me come. Of course, Aunt June is to be my chaperone.” She sent Aunt June a sweet smile, and then turned back to Garrett. “Your father lent me the railcar to use for a home. It’s much more comfortable, you know.” She giggled. “Put me to work, Garrett. I’ve come for an adventure.”
Beth’s mouth ran dry from the air, and she realized she’d let it fall open at the sight of the woman. She snapped it shut. What did this woman mean to Garrett? By the way she fell on him the moment her feet touched the damp forest ground, she’d come for more than an adventure.
“I’ve come to help Aunt June.” Carrie’s voice permeated the fog of jealousy in Beth’s brain, and she snapped her gaze to where her friend stood staring at Garrett and the blonde. Carrie turned up her nose in disgust, flipped one hand through the air, and then faced forward. “To hell with adventure.”
“Carrie,” Beth exclaimed, gave a quick survey to ensure no one realized her mistake, and then faced her friend. “Where’d you come from?”
Beth shot Aunt June a nervous look.
“Oh, she knows,” Carrie confessed.
“True right I do, my dear.” Aunt June winked. “And people say I can’t keep a secret.”
“When? How?” Beth asked.
“I wrote her the minute you left my parlor. I couldn’t have you traipsing up here all by yourself.” Carrie turned her attention to Aunt June and started to walk into her cabin. “Imagine the trouble she would get in all alone up here. I figured if she was going to get into trouble in the forest, at least she’d chosen to do it in your camp.”
Aunt June clicked her tongue and laughed.
“How do you know her?” Beth followed the two women into the tiny home until they were completely shut off from the rest of the camp.
“I told you before that my godmother worked at a lumber camp.” Carrie turned to Aunt June, “I swear, she never listens.” She set down her bag on the bed. “June was my mother’s dearest friend in school.”
“Why didn’t you say something?” Beth asked Aunt June.
“It was more fun this way.” She chuckled. “Plus, you were determined to do things your way. I knew you wouldn’t listen.”
Beth’s heart jumped with joy. She had found this adventure to be a little more trying than expected, but with Carrie here she could accomplish anything. She couldn’t wait to show her Mother Goose’s Cottage. The slugs. How the men competed for balance on the logs.
Beth sobered as reality intruded upon her thoughts.
They weren’t here simply for enjoyment. They had a task. “You must help me find out who is behind the sabotage.”
“That we will,” Aunt June answered. “Once Carrie told me of your discovery, I decided to keep my ears open as well. Men tend to forget I’m around when they’re elbow deep in elk stew. So far I’ve only heard a little bit of chatter, but you aren’t going to like it I’m afraid.”
“Why?”
“The only tidbits I’ve heard include your brother, Beth.”
“There’s no way Simon is involved.”
“That’s what I thought. Ain’t no way that angel of a man is anything but honest.” Aunt June shook her head. “Ain’t no way. Only problem is, one of them Bonner boys came whisperin’ something fierce to Luther. Going on about how Simon is getting knee deep involved in something. Then that Luther said he was going to take care of it.”
“Take care of it how?”
“God only knows,” Aunt June whispered. “But whatever happens, I hope it spares him and that handsome face of his.”
Beth couldn’t disguise the worry she felt. No doubt her look mimicked the one Aunt June wore as she stared at the ground.
Carrie tapped her finger on her chin. “That’s it. You two seem a bit too emotional here. We need someone with a clear mind to make our decisions in the scheme. I’m taking over this spy operation. Aunt June, you keep butting into everyone’s business. Beth, keep an ear open for talk amongst the men. I’ll try to charm information from the men, and we’ll report back to each other. We need to flush the culprit out before anyone gets hurt.”
“Don’t you be charming these boys too much,” Aunt June chided. “Them’s loggers, not city gentlemen. I don’t want to have to hear it from your mama when you end up hitched to a river rat…or worse.”
“Of course not, Auntie. I’m a lady. The only man I’m getting hitched to has to at least have two carriages and a mansion on Higgins Street.”
“Atta girl.” Aunt June smiled, and then turned to Beth and lightly shove
d her toward the door. “Now off with you. You have some wood to cut for tonight’s fire. I see how good you’re getting with that ax. Chop me a few extra pieces, and maybe I’ll make a pie for after supper. Your brother loves my pie.”
She was getting good with the ax. Since the day the boy Michael had shown her how to swing the thing properly, she’d taken every opportunity to chop. Her muscles screamed in protest every night as she lay weak in her bunk, but it was worth the pride she saw in both Aunt June’s and Garrett’s eyes. Maybe now Garrett would let her start training for the river.
* * * *
“What are you doing here, Victoria?” Garrett asked the blonde hanging on his arm. To keep from making a scene, he’d waited until the camp had cleared before addressing the issue plaguing him since the train had rolled in. Things were starting to go well with Beth. He’d gotten over his fear of talking to her, and had even kissed her. He shouldn’t have, but he wouldn’t take back that moment for all his springs as a logger. When he’d carried her down the mountain he’d decided to beg his father again to consider Beth for him.
Now, Victoria, with her light skin and equally pale hair, piled high in the flawless coif, stood before him. She was the perfect example of what every Jones should be, but he wasn’t. His soul belonged to the mountains, and hers to the status his name would give her. He wanted to live simply, where she wanted the house on the hill. He wanted Beth. Not Victoria, the woman who he’d known his whole life. The woman who his father had joked about Garrett marrying on more than one occasion. There was no doubt why she was here. She’d come as a symbol of his father’s decision.
“I told you. I’ve come to learn about this operation. Your father was kind enough to lend me his personal railcar for the stay, so I figured why not. It will be great fun, don’t you think?”
“What do you plan on doing here? You aren’t built to survive in the forest, let alone ride the river or even chop wood.”
Victoria laughed and waved toward the camp. “Oh no, silly. I’ll help out here, and watch how you men do things. I need to know the logging process if I’m to help my future husband run the mill once my father retires, but I wouldn’t be caught dead doing such mannish work. That other woman who came on the train with me said she was coming to help the cook. I’ll lend them a hand. Things around here could use a lady’s touch.”
“How long do you plan to stay?” Hopefully not long. What was he supposed to do with two incorrigible women? Beth, and the feelings she evoked when near, were hard enough to deal with. The last thing he needed was Victoria and all of the fears that surfaced with her arrival. With no wifely prospects, and no time to court, he’d agreed to his father’s suggestion for an arranged marriage. He’d made a huge mistake.
“Oh, I don’t know,” she answered. “Until I get bored, I suppose.”
Garrett snapped his focus back on Victoria. “You must stay in camp. You cannot wander off.”
She waved off his concern. “I wouldn’t dream of it. I plan to be by your side or here in camp. There are too many wild things in the forest.”
“Garrett.” He heard Simon call and turned around as his friend neared. “I need to speak with you.”
“Of course.” Garrett turned to Victoria and bowed his head. “If you’ll excuse me.”
With a proper curtsy from her, he turned to leave, but stopped. “Tell Aunt June that I sent you. She’ll get you set up.”
He followed in Simon’s wake as they picked their way toward the lake.
Simon peered over Garrett’s shoulder as if checking for something, or someone, and then leapt off the trail over a small brush, motioning for Garrett to follow. When vegetation shrouded them in secrecy, Simon spoke, “I finally found Jessip after you went up to talk to Teddy.”
Damn. If he hadn’t been so focused on Beth, he would have been able to talk to the man and demand answers. “What did he say?”
“He heard about the cut boom log and wanted to let us know it wasn’t him.”
“Then who was it?” Who cut the damned rope? The question had burned in his mind since they found the scene.
“I don’t know. I’ll keep my ears open.”
“Keep your eyes open as well. If someone is trying to stop the drive, they aren’t done causing accidents. The last thing we need is a fatal disaster.” The safety of the men was a priority in the Big Mountain Lumber Mill camp. Throughout the company’s history, there had been three fatal catastrophes, none of which could have been avoided. Big Mountain would not stand for a death caused by the negligent greed of an inside man.
* * * *
“Isn’t Garrett a fine man?” the blond woman asked and drew close to where Beth and Carrie stood. Beth stacked the cut wood near the cook fire and tried not to be noticed when the woman extended her hand like a queen to a subject. “I’m Victoria Harrison.”
“We met on the train platform, remember? You climbed in the fancy caboose, and I rode with the crew.” Carrie smiled and, with exaggerated movements no doubt geared toward shocking the prim woman, shook her hand in a very unladylike way. Beth snickered, but kept her focus on the wood.
“Oh…yes,” Victoria said hesitantly, and yanked her hand to her chest. “I remember. But I was talking to your beau here.” She extended her hand to Beth. “I’m Victoria. Garrett’s…well, goodness, I suppose you could call us friends. If my parents have anything to do with it, though, we’ll be wed by the end of summer, and running this operation together.”
Beth forced a smile and shook her hand, but in truth she wanted to dunk the ninny-headed wench into the dirty wash bin.
“What do you do here?” Victoria asked Beth.
“I’m a riverman.”
Victoria squealed. “You work for Garrett? Oh, how delightful. I’ll bet it’s great fun to watch him work all day. I’ll bet he’s an excellent boss.” She giggled. “You know, sometimes I wish I were a man so I could chop wood and ride the river. You know all those masculine things they do.”
“Sometimes Brent wishes he were a man, too,” Carrie said and stifled a laugh with the back of her hand.
“Oh, aren’t you wicked.” Victoria giggled with Carrie, completely ignorant of the inside joke.
What a ninny head. Beth turned back to stacking the wood and couldn’t help but loathe the cackling hen before her. Not that she had a reason to. So Garrett had kissed her unexpectedly. One kiss didn’t mean anything. It was probably because of the enchanting atmosphere of the flower-speckled meadow at Mother Goose’s Cottage. Somewhere with the lasting fog of her dreams, it meant something more.
“If you’ll excuse me.” Beth picked up the ax from a nearby stump. “I have to be getting back to work. There’s still a few hours left before dark.”
After a regal nod from Victoria, Beth took her leave. If she had any luck at all, she’d find the men at the raft and would be able to get a start on actually training for the drive.
She fled before Carrie could find a reason to make her stay. She gave a forced gloating smile and ran through the brush, taking a shortcut to the trail. Her empty chest ached. Hollowed out by the promise of tomorrow destroyed by the reality of today.
The quarter-mile trail wound through the dense trees at the base of the hills and away from the main logging site to open up yards from the bank of Seeley Lake. She appreciated the few moments she’d had with the women of camp, but when Aunt June watched over her, as directed by Garrett, she felt stifled. With Garrett and Simon, she felt protected, but free.
She emerged from the trees as a log flew down the chute with flames whipping out from behind as it fell and landed with a frightening crack. The wood tumbled down the rollway to rest with a pile of logs waiting to be added to the raft.
“Someone run up there and tell Teddy to grease the chute!” Simon shouted from where he stood next to Garrett. “Damned man never greases the chute. I swear he thinks wood is f
lameproof. He’s all horse and wench.”
Garrett shifted and turned a slight shade of red. Odd. He’d never before seemed embarrassed when she was around. Arrogant, maybe. Playful at times, but never uncomfortable. Was it the kiss that made him nervous, or the arrival of Victoria with all her bewitching plans?
“We have a few hours left of light,” she said, hoping he’d understand her silent suggestion. She licked her lips to keep from biting them. She needed one more moment alone with Garrett, and what better way to do that than to train for the log drive.
The color in his face faded, and his shoulders dropped a little. He motioned toward the shoreline. “We can take the bateau out. You’ll need to get used to maneuvering the boat.”
“What are the rest of the men doing?”
“Since the drive is delayed, they’re finding other jobs around the camp. Most are helping the fallers and buckers. You and I will work to get you physically ready.”
Another flaming log shot down the chute.
“Goddamn it, Teddy!” Simon roared and started up the hill. “Grease that damn chute!”
She followed Garrett to the bank where a long boat, mirroring a split peapod from her nana’s garden, sat waiting.
“Get in. I’ll push it out,” he ordered.
She did as directed and before she knew it, they were swaying with the waves. She watched the easy way he handled the stick, the calm approach to maneuvering the boat when needed, and the way he stared at the water. Not once did he glance up in her direction. He prodded at the bottom of the lake with a long pole, and propelled them forward. “This is the peavey. It’s perfect for the shallow waters of a river, but only works so well in a lake.”
When the water became too deep, he slid the pole into the boat and took up the oars. They rode in silence until he stopped somewhere in the middle of the water.
“You’re going to need to be able to row in case something comes up and I can’t be the point man in the boat. Watch how I do it.” He demonstrated, still keeping his gaze everywhere else but on her.
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